As an electronic component operates, the signal flow within the component generates heat which if not removed may cause damage. If this heat is not removed, or dissipated, the electronic component may not operate correctly and may become damaged. Typically, the heat generated by the electronic component is dissipated by a cooling means, such as a heat sink which absorbs and dissipates the heat via direct air convection. Heat sinks are well known in the electronics industry and are used extensively to dissipate heat generated by electronic components used in computers and various other electronic equipment.
However, improvements in integrated circuit (IC) design and fabrication techniques are allowing IC manufacturers to produce smaller IC devices and other electronic components which operate at increasingly faster speeds and which perform an increasingly higher number of operations. As the operating speed and operational parameters of an electronic component increases, so to does the heat generated by these components. As a result, heat sinks that use conventional direct air cooling technology, or direct air convection, to dissipate heat are fast approaching the limits of their cooling abilities and it is becoming increasingly difficult to dissipate this increased heat. This is true even for electronic components that were once considered to be a low power technology and as such low heat generators, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, circuitry.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a cooling means that is capable of dissipating heat generated by various types of current and future generations of electronic components.